Guam’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.2% in June, a decrease from 4.0% a year earlier, according to the Guam Department of Labor.
The department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Sunday showed workers on Guam are seeing slightly higher earnings, with average wages increasing from $18.31 an hour last year to $18.72.
Nationally, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls is $36.53, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Guam report showed the number of private sector jobs on the island dropped 1.8% over the past year, to 51,350. The number of federal jobs increased by 1.8% to 3.890, and the number of government of Guam jobs was up 4.3% to 12,320.
The report noted a decline of 470 jobs over the past year and a decline of 360 in the latest quarter.
“The greatest private sector employment reductions over the year were in Construction 900, the majority of which were H-2 workers,” the report stated.
Gary Hiles, chief economist at the Guam Department of Labor, said the island’s unemployment rate dropped below the national average in September 2024 "and remained below it. The comparable seasonally unadjusted June 2025 unemployment rate in the U.S. was 4.4%."
